Changes to Donor Cover

Betsy Rubenstein

I sent the following message to Geoff back when we received the email regarding the update to donor cover. I've not yet heard back from him, I know he's in high demand. I was wondering if anyone else has asked the following questions and gotten answers? We have a large fundraiser starting tomorrow which runs for 2 weeks, and this hits smack in the middle of it.

"Geoff, can you please help me understand the flow here as it affects our donors and the receipts/communications they receive when they submit a donor-cover transaction via our DIY forms? Currently, the full amount that they pay, fees covered or not, is included in our receipts. Now that the amount that we will receive will be changing if a transaction is fee covered and it's not an Amex transaction, what amount will the donor see on their receipt? The amount that they see on their screen or the amount that we receive? And then at year end, will I be able to tell my donors who did not use Amex that they donated $X+fees covered via an eTapestry communication or will it be $X+fees covered less the difference? How will the verbiage read on our DIY form to inform them that any difference is now going to Blackbaud and is not a part of their donation?

"For example, if a donor in the United States elects to cover the processing cost for a $100 gift on a donor cover enabled form, our payment workflow charges the donor $103.94 for credit card transactions, to ensure the customer receives the full $100 donation. If the donor uses a Visa/Mastercard, then the customer’s donor cover processing rate is $3.41. This leaves a discrepancy of $0.53, which can cause reconciliation issues for customers. Beginning on April 1, 2025, Blackbaud will retain this amount to make reconciliation easier for you."

I'd argue after however many years of using donor cover, this will make reconciliation harder and create the need to change our processes, and provides less transparency to our donors."

Betsy Rubenstein

@Crystal Bruce can you help?

Crystal Bruce

@Betsy Rubenstein Hi Betsy! I think Geoff was on PTO, but he is also highly popular here at Blackbaud. I found a resource link here: What are the changes to donor cover processing in 2025? that covers a lot about Donor Cover. Let me know if you have any other concerns you want me to flag up to my team.

Betsy Rubenstein

@Crystal Bruce maybe I'm being dense, but I still have questions. No where on my DIY forms that I have setup does it say whether a gift is tax-deductible. How is this determined? Not all of our forms that use Donor Cover are tax-deductible gifts.

And the receipt will be for the full amount of the transaction, but now I have to reconcile the difference between what was receipted and what we actually receive. Will each non-Amex transaction say that BB received a portion of the gift on the transaction on the journal?